Ali Joy Richardson and Laura Jabalee Johnston (plus lighting designer Steph Raposo) went straight from working on Sarah Ruhl’s dark-ish comedy The Clean House (closed April 22) for Alumnae Theatre Company to this new project: Sophia Fabiilli’s delightful modern farce, Liars At A Funeral. Running to May 14 at St. Vladimir Theatre (620 Spadina Ave., Toronto).

We’re all about hard-working #bossbabes being at the helm of the theatre we see, so it was such a joy to catch up with Ali Joy Richardson to discuss her latest directing project, Liars at a Funeral, why her directing mentors have been instrumental in assembling her own director’s utility belt, and the top three pieces of advice she’s living by right now.

HS: Tell me a bit about your current directing project, Liars at a Funeral, and what caught your interest when deciding to direct it.

Ali Joy Richardson:Liars at a Funeral is set in a funeral home in Northern Ontario where a grandmother has faked her own death in order to get her family back together for Christmas. It’s a farce: 4 doors, 5 actors playing 9 characters, and a family curse of female twins who hate one another…but without the stale sexism…